VII National and Area Studies / Études Nationales et Régionales
| Published date | 01 August 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00208345231194182 |
| Date | 01 August 2023 |
635
VII
NATIONAL AND AREA STUDIES
ÉTUDES NATIONALES ET RÉGIONALES
73.5458 AGBOGA, Victor — Selective forgiveness and the politics
of amnesties in Nigeria. Round Table 111(5), 2022 : 567-
581.
On whether governments should grant state forgiveness to insurgents
amid the popularity of amnesty, justice advocates have cautioned that
amnesties could be instrumentalised to muddle accountability. This paper
demonstrates how domestic peace processes could mimic existing power
inequalities, thereby including some groups and excluding others from
state forgiveness. By examining the differential treatment of insurgent
groups in Nigeria, this paper unpacks how ethnic politics and resource
dependence led to amnesties for Boko Haram and the Niger Delta mili-
tants, and how the absence of oil and political connections leave Biafra
agitators with nothing to exchange for state amnesty. [R]
73.5459 AKOMEA-FRIMPONG, Isaac ; OLANIYAN, Temitayo Olu-
mide ; DWOMOH-OKUDZETO, Yvonne — Financial literacy
of legislators in Africa: an exploratory study. International
Journal of Public Administration 46(6), 2023 : 391-402.
Financial literacy is a catalyst to improve financial decisions and financial
inclusion in the society. Existing studies demonstrate a growing research
outputs on financial literacy in all facets of the society except the legisla-
ture, one of three principal branches of government. Despite the fact that
the legislature is the law-making body of financial bills and regulations in
the society, little is known about the level of financial literacy of the mem-
bers of the legislature. This study aims to explore the financial literacy of
the legislators in Africa. A survey aided in obtaining primary data from 87
legislators of the Pan-African Parliament in Africa. Data obtained were
analysed using descriptive and the probit statistical techniques. The re-
sults reveal education, profession and income as the main factors influ-
encing financial literacy of legislators. [R, abr.]
73.5460 ALBASSAM, Bassam Abdullah — Government spending
and economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa
region. International Review of Administrative Sciences
88(4), Dec. 2022 : 1124-1140.
In 2011, during the Arab Spring, citizens in some Arab countries marched
in the streets, demanding decreased corruption, increased public partici-
pation in running state affairs, and provision of jobs for citizens. In re-
sponse, governments in the Middle East and North Africa region initiated
strategic plans to meet the people’s demands (e.g. Morocco Vision 2030,
Saudi Vision 2030). One of the main parts of these plans is related to
reforming the public finance s ector. Recently, in response to the novel
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, most Middle East and North Africa
countries have taken loans or withdrawn from reserves (both considered
sources of funding for government expenditures) to support the economy
and fund the healthcare plans to fight the disease. Thus, the efficiency
and effectiveness of government spending is very important in utilizing
the available resources at all times. Using data for the Middle East and
North Africa region from 1990 to 2019, and utilizing a scatterplot tech-
nique and the general linear modeling procedure, this article explores the
relationship between public expenditures and economic growth. [R, abr.]
73.5461 ANDGULADZE, Ana — “Anti-liberal Europe”, an opposing
narrative to normative power Europe in the Eastern
neighbourhood? The case of Georgia. European Politics
and Society 24(1), 2023 : 77-95.
In recent years Georgia saw the rise of anti-liberal, far-right powers, com-
prised of political parties, societal groups, and media outlets, that found
solid ground in exploiting the conflict over values in a predominantly con-
servative and religious society. While the literature focuses on how differ-
ent ‘non-democratic regional powers’ are countering against efforts of
Western democracy promotion, including by empowering anti-liberal ac-
tors in neighbouring countries, less attention has been paid to the im-
portance of transnational diffusion of ideas from Europe's promoters of
‘illiberal democracies’ beyond the European Union. This article shows
how Georgia's anti-liberal domestic actors have found the ‘anti-liberal Eu-
rope’ as a powerful narrative to pit against ‘normative power Europe.’ [R,
abr.] [See Abstr. 73.4783]
73.5462 ANICHE, Ernest Toochi, et al. — When all hands are not on
deck: intergovernmental relations and the fight against
COVID-19 pandemic in the Nigerian federation. Politikon
(South African Journal of Political Studies) 49(1), 2022 : 43-
59.
The defects and susceptibility of the Nigerian federalism are more pro-
nounced at this period of the Covid-19 pandemic. Existing studies are yet
to articulate how the states, in the formulation and enforcement o f the
lockdown and physical distancing policies, infringed on the federal exclu-
sive matters by closing land borders, airports and imposing partial bank-
ing services. There is selective provision/distribution of healthcare facili-
ties and stimulus packages and palliatives across the states by the fed-
eral government. This study examines how the conflicting nature of inter-
governmental relations is implicated in the level of implementation of con-
tainment policies/strategies towards the fight against the Covid-19 pan-
demic in Nigeria. [R, abr.]
73.5463 AYKAÇ, Pınar — Multiple neo-Ottomanisms in the con-
struction of Turkey’s (trans)national heritage: TIKA and a
dialectic between foreign and domestic policy. Turkish
Studies 23(3), 2022 : 354-382.
After coming to power in 2002, the Justice and Development Party
evoked the ‘glory’ of the Ottoman past, seeking to expand Turkey’s cul-
tural sphere of influence to the former territories of the Ottoman Empire
— a phenomenon commonly referred to as neo-Ottomanism. While neo-
Ottomanism is generally discussed as a component of foreign policy, the
Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency’s (TIKA) intervention in the
heritage dynamics of foreign countries was intimately linked with domes-
tic policies. This paper discusses how neo-Ottomanist policies selectively
created transnational heritage sites, and how these sites have dialecti-
cally become instruments of domestic politics. [R]
73.5464 AZZARELLI, Andrea — Policing the Sicilian mafia: repres-
sion and control of the mafia phenomenon in late nine-
teenth-century Italy. European History Quarterly 53(1), Jan.
2023 : 45-66.
The article analyzes the repression of the Mafia phenomenon in Sicily
between 1896 and 1901. The close attention paid to the Mafia by the
authorities during this period produced a strong evidence base which this
article examines through the lens of policing practices. These practices
remain neglected as to date the historiography has focused on tracing
legal developments rather than examining the application of laws by the
forces of law and order. Accordingly, the article puts forward a series of
historiographically important questions: what was the attitude of police
forces in controlling dangerous individuals? How much do the practices
adopted by police forces tell us about the possibilities for state interven-
tion and the limits of its influence? What was the relationship between the
perception of a criminal threat, police operations and the construction of
judicial truth? The article reveals a very clear image of the Italian state in
the liberal era. In fact, state officials and high-ranking institutional figures
seemed interested in strengthening the social and political order by es-
tablishing control networks which could operate in any circumstances. [R,
abr.]
73.5465 BADARIN, Emile — Politics of recognition, elimination
and settler-colonialism. Critical Sociology 49(2), 2023 :
233-252.
This article cross-examines the external and internal dimensions of set-
tler-colonial politics of recognition. In settler-colonialism, recognition rep-
resents another medium for the elimination of the natives, whose exist-
ence is considered as a source of threat, uncertainty and curtailed settler
sovereignty. Settler sovereign statehood is contingent on the reengineer-
ing of the land–population relationship in the conquered territory. The set-
tler-colonial politics of recognition seeks to institutionalise particular pat-
terns of values that ultimately embody the logic of elimination at the nor-
mative level in an attempt to disrupt the natives’ relationship with their
land. This article critically interrogates Israel’s politics of recognition and
demonstrates how this politics is applied to establish internal and external
normative scaffolding to normalise and legitimise the settler desire for
sovereignty and invulnerability. [R, abr.]
73.5466 BADRI, Adarsh — Quad and the Indo-Pacific: examining
the balance of interest theory in Quad coalition. Strategic
Analysis 46(6), 2022 : 601-613.
In light of China’s rise, the Quad coalition has gained momentum in its
efforts to maintain a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). While scholars
have discussed the relevance of Quad, little work has been done to the-
orize the balancing behaviour of individual Quad countries. This article
International relations
636
examines Randall Schweller’s Balance of Interest theory — which em-
phasizes the underlying ‘profit motives’ in alliance formations — in the
Quad coalition. Using Schweller’s typology of States, this article argues,
the US behaves as a status quo lion state, Japan as a lamb state, Aus-
tralia and India as jackal states, and China as a revisionist wolf state. [R]
73.5467 BAKARDJIEVA, Maria — The other civil society: digital
media and grassroots illiberalism in Bulgaria. European
Societies 25(2), 2023 : 304-325.
The goal of the small-scale exploratory study presented in this article is
to examine the digital mediation of grassroots processes unfolding within
Bulgarian civil society that contribute to the strengthening of the social
base and cultural influence of illiberal ideologies and citizen organisa-
tions. While ample attention has been paid to the utility of digital media in
progressive movements and mobilizations, much less is known about
their use by illiberal activists. The methodology comprises two case stud-
ies, each focused on a different collective actor that espouses ‘illiberal’,
nationalist and intolerant views. Using the concept of ‘uncivil society’ pro-
posed by Kopecký and Mudde ([2003]. Uncivil Society: Contentious Poli-
tics in Post-Communist Europe, London: Routledge), the paper ap-
proaches the analysis of the positions and activities of these organisa-
tions from two angles: (1) the way in which these actors appropriate dis-
courses of ‘patriotism’ and ‘civil society’ and (2) the way they employ dig-
ital media to construct collective identities and build up support. [R, abr.]
[See Abstr. 73.4847]
73.5468 BAN, Cornel ; SCHEIRING, Gabor ; VASILE, Mihai — The
political economy of national-neoliberalism. European
Politics and Society 24(1), 2023 : 96-114.
Has a post-neoliberal policy regime emerged from the challenges to ne-
oliberalism that have accompanied the rise of nationalism and populism
in some Eastern and Central European countries? Why has the political
organization of these challenges to neoliberalism endured in some coun-
tries but not in others? By drawing on a mix of primary and secondary
sources culled from the institutional, political and economic realities of
Hungary and Romania, this paper makes two claims. First, the article sug-
egsts that these transformations have amounted to a distinctive variety of
neoliberalism that can be dubbed ‘national-neoliberalism.’ At its core one
finds the slightly modified old goals of neoliberal orthodoxy embedded
into a protective cocoon of orthodox and unorthodox economic policy in-
struments and institutions. The second claim of the paper is that the po-
litical organization of the national-neoliberal project was resilient in Hun-
gary but not in Romania. [R, abr.] [See Abstr. 73.4783]
73.5469 BEALL, Katherine M. — The Global South and global hu-
man rights: international responsibility for the right to de-
velopment. Third World Quarterly 43(10), 2022 : 2337-2356.
Human rights are typically understood as governing the behaviour of
states towards the people within their borders. In this article, I argue that
this domestic formulation of human rights is not universal, but came about
through political bargaining and contestation. From at least the early
twentieth century, a range of actors from the Global South developed an
understanding of individual and collective rights that emphasised interna-
tional responsibility, especially of wealthy, powerful states towards people
in poorer, weaker states. I show that this foundational understanding
served as an important basis for the how the Global South engaged with
economic and social rights within the United Nations before, during and
after the adoption of the Universal Bill of Rights. It eventually manifested
in the campaign for the human right to development. [R, abr.]
73.5470 BELL, Stephen — Large firms in Australian politics: the
institutional dynamics of the government relations func-
tion. Australian Journal of Political Science 58(1), 2023 : 124-
140.
Corporate political activity by large firms has increased in a range of west-
ern countries and in Australia. There has also been an increased ten-
dency for large firms to lobby individually on firm-centred agendas. Both
trends have seen large firms engaging in institutional adaptation, primarily
through developing dedicated government relations functions (GRF). The
last research on this topic in Australia was thirty years ago [S. Bell and J.
Warhurst, “Business Political Activism and Government Relations in
Large Companies in Australia”, ibid. 28(2), July 1993: 201-220; Abstr.
44.507] and this paper updates this earlier research. It also frames the
relevant developments as an important set of institutional challenges, not
only for government relations (GR) managers within corporate hierar-
chies, but also in interacting with and influencing other key institutional
interlocutors, especially government policy makers. [R, abr.]
73.5471 BELZILE, Germain ; CANDELA, Rosolino A. ; GELOSO, Vin-
cent — Regulatory capture and the dynamics of interven-
tionism: the case of power utilities in Quebec and Ontario
to 1944. Public Choice 193(1-2), Oct. 2022 : 35-61.
To what extent are the outcomes of economic regulation intended and
desired by its proponents? To address that question, we combine
Stigler’s theory of regulatory capture with the Austrian theory of the dy-
namics of interventionism. We reframe Stigler’s theory of regulatory cap-
ture as an analytical starting point for a dynamic theory of interventionism,
one accounting for the unintended consequences that emerge from reg-
ulation, even if the origins of such regulation were designed to benefit a
particular industry or special interest group. Therefore, we argue that reg-
ulatory capture is not necessarily inconsistent with a dynamic theory of
intervention. We illustrate our theoretical point by applying it to an econ-
ometric case study of electric utility regulation and its eventual nationali-
zation in both Ontario and Quebec. [R] [See Abstr. 73.4584]
73.5472 BHANDARI, Abhit — Social, formal, and political determi-
nants of trade under weak rule of law: experimental evi-
dence from Senegalese firms. Comparative Political Stud-
ies 56(2), Feb. 2023 : 163-192.
How do firms ensure secure exchange when the rule of law is weak and
contracting institutions privilege the politically connected? In developing
countries, firms may use social, formal, or political heuristics when select-
ing business partners, but how these factors jointly impact exchange re-
mains understudied. I develop these theoretical mechanisms and test
their impact with a conjoint experiment administered to 2389 formal and
informal firms in Senegal. I find e vidence in support of all three theories:
To varying degrees, social, state, and political factors simultaneously im-
pact firms’ sense of deal security and likelihood of exchange. The results
demonstrate the substantial influence of formal predictors of exchange
even in an overwhelmingly informal business environment, and also es-
tablish the countervailing effects of political connections on trade. [R, abr.]
73.5473 BIRD, Malcolm G. — State-owned enterprises in Canada:
new era, new research agenda. Canadian Public Admin-
istration 65(4), Dec. 2022 : 729-734.
State-owned enterprises (SOEs) are vital policy instruments in Canada
and abroad. This article describes and analyzes key developments in the
SOE sector in Canada and internationally. It argues that SOEs are im-
portant policy tools for states, especially in emerging markets, to develop
and strengthen their national economies. While many developed liberal
democracies eschew SOEs as policy tools in the modern era, they con-
tinue to be crucial actors in Canada and within many developing nations,
warranting renewed scholarly attention. They are a central component of
an overall expansion of state activities to shape markets to produce out-
comes that meet the political goals of governments. [R]
73.5474 BJARNEGÅRD, Elin, et al. — Armed violence and patriar-
chal values: a survey of young men in Thailand and their
military experiences. American Political Science Review
117(2), May 2023 : 439-453.
What is the relationship between armed violence and patriarchal values?
This question is addressed with the help of a survey of young men in the
conflict-affected southern provinces of Thailand. In Study 1 we find that
men with more patriarchal values are more prone to volunteer for para-
military service. Study 2 uses a natural experiment made possible by the
conscription lottery in Thailand to compare survey responses of men who
were involuntarily enlisted to do Military Conscription Service (treatment
group) with the responses of men who participated in the lottery but were
not enlisted (control group). We find no difference between the treatment
and control groups in patriarchal values. We conclude that patriarchal val-
ues drive voluntary participation in armed conflict, whereas military ser-
vice as a conscript in a conflict zone does not cause patriarchal values.
[R]
73.5475 BÖHLER, Jochen — Trauma here, repressed memories
there — Invasion and occupation in Poland, 1939-1945.
Osteuropa 72(9-10), 2022 : 69-84.
It is well known that the Second World War began on September 1, 1939,
with Germany’s invasion of Poland. But what the war and the occupation
meant for the population found its way into German memory only much
later and most superficially. From the very first day of the attack, German
military operations had all the characteristics of a war of extermination.
Prisoners of war and civilians were shot. The entire population was at the
mercy of the occupiers. People were murdered for no reason, put in ghet-
tos, where they died of starvation and disease, deported to killing centres,
where they fell victim to mass murder, or sent away to work as forced
labourers. There is not a family in Poland that did not lose relatives as a
consequence of the war and occupation. [R, abr.] [See Abstr. 73.5247]
73.5476 BOTLHALE, Emmanuel — Political settlements analysis of
natural resource governance in Botswana. Politikon
(South African Journal of Political Studies) 49(3), 2022 : 274-
290.
Natural resources are abundant in Africa and must be used to achieve
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